Birthday Suits, Asia Major

Do you ever celebrate the birthdays of your favorite movie folk? You should. Here are your options for 11/27

Michael Vartan, Bruce Lee

1940 Bruce Lee Chinese American trailblazer, 70s icon, legend. Without him, whose to say how long it would have taken martial arts films to gain as much international popularity? Without him, no Uma Thurman in a yellow track suit.
1951 Kathryn Bigelow director, action fan. An Oscar nominee in about 2 months and a week.
1956 William Fichtner actor
1957 Callie Khouri, screenwriter. She'll always have Thelma & Louise
1957 Kevin O'Connell, the most nominated never-winning Oscar anything. He's been nominated 20 times (!) for his sound work. He has only his Emmy and lucrative blockbuster heavy career to comfort him. His next project is the Gyllenhaal action flick Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. [editor's note: You may recall that the second podcast ever here at TFE was an interview with his then working partner Greg P Russell whose own Oscar tally totals 12 nominations without a win.]

1963 Fisher Stevens, Michelle Pfeiffer's boyfriend during her Catwoman years
1968 Michael Vartan, French-American actor (Alias)
1978 Unax Ugalde, Spanish hottie... seduced Julianne Moore's son in Savage Grace and played the young version of Javier Bardem in Love in the Time of Cholera. Co-stars soon in Roland Joffe's There Be Dragons.
1985 Alison Pill, actress of stage (Oleanna) and screen (Milk)

Finally, Tadanobu Asano, hip Japanese actor turns 36 years old today. He recently starred in the Oscar nominated Mongol but that's just one in a series of lauded films he's made this decade. He was also featured in Ichi the Killer, Zatoichi and two films for acclaimed Thai director Pen-Ek Ratanaruang The Invisible Waves and Last Life in the Universe. His face will become even more familiar to international auds in two years time. He's joined the star heavy cast of Kenneth Branagh's Thor (2011). He'll play "Hogun" one of the Warriors Three. The warriors (two) will be played by Ray Stevenson and Stuart Townsend Theron.

Broken Sword With Broken Arm

"Broken Sword" has broken his arm! It's practically all I've been thinking about today. Perhaps I should explain for those who haven't yet heard...

Tony Leung Chiu-Wai was so injured while training for Wong Kar Wai's next picture, a biopic about Bruce Lee's mentor called The Grand Master (not to be confused with Ip Man starring Donnie Yen which is on the same topic). Apparently his arm must rest for over a month (the September start date is looking shaky). My poor Tony. That arm is a cinematic treasure: it draped languorously over his head while he smoked in bed, it tenderly held stuffed animals and Faye Wong's legs, it smoked endless cigarettes and carried so many noodles, it held Tang Wei down while another appendage had its way with her, it embraced the goddess Maggie Cheung so many times. No real harm should ever come to it.

If you're thinking 'Nathaniel's laying it on thick,' I hereby assign you a triple feature of Chiu Wai essentials.


You'll thank me. Any triple from this list will more than make the case for loving him deeply, fanatically.

• Chungking Express (1994) see the first Wong Kar Wai movie to make a real dent in America. It's so gorgeous. Bonus points: Brigitte Lin and Takeshi Kaneshiro.
• Happy Together (1997) Tony's stormy gay romance with Leslie Cheung.
• In the Mood For Love (2000) among the very best romantic dramas of all time. That isn't hyperbole.
  
• Hero (2002) when Tony did martial arts without breaking his arm.
• Infernal Affairs (2002) doing the DiCaprio thing before DiCaprio himself did it, The Departed being a remake and all.
  
• Lust, Caution (2006) See Tony in the altogether giving (arguably) his best performance.

He's made many other movies. Some fine. Some not so. Like any giant movie star. But he's the best. He's even won the equivalent of three Oscars for Chinese language films.

If anything Tony's broken arm makes me love him even more.
I'm not sure what it is but there is something so appealing about the wounded. I don't mean that in a sick violent way but in an... um... affectionate healer way. Consider. Was Brad Pitt ever more attractive than when his arm was in a sling and his head and nose were all bloody and bandaged in Se7en ? Didn't Javier Bardem radiate more heat from his wheelchair lovemaking in Live Flesh than he did standing on two legs in other movies? Or is this just a personal quirk?

Nah, it can't be. Oscar loves wounded men, too. I know I'm not completely alone. But they like their wounds to be permanent (disabilities, disease) so that they can praise the man for soldiering forth with courage and determination. They like their women wounded too... if you consider the surrendering of beauty (de-glam!) to be a physical disability (and you know they do).

I've lost the thread. My point is this: Get well soon, Tony.
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Versus

Nathaniel is back. C'est moi. I need to thank JA from MNPP for filling in for me yesterday. JA is dipped in a vat of awesome. Love him. Much more from me in a few hours but for now enjoy this awesome Iron Man vs. Bruce Lee stop motion short.



Although...

If we're playing to The Film Experience base I think we need something more along the lines of "Catwoman versus Lt. Ellen Ripley". Or maybe "Carol White vs. Cathy Whitaker" --would they just stare absently at each other or have a crying jag face/off ???

Cathy: My hair. I experimented. Do you like it?

Carol: Oh god Cathy... is that hairspray?

Yes, someone make those short films! Or do I have to do everything?
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